Ranked #72

Hunter x Hunter

Hunter X Hunter is a Shonen adventure series, yes, but there´s actually a lot that differs from your typical shonen-show. In a good way. I´ll explain why gradually through the review, let´s begin.

Story
The story is good, but not really anything mind breaking. It´s about Gon, a 12 year old boy, trying to become a hunter so he can find his father who left him as a child. A hunter is basically a person with a hunters license, and the concept of hunting can be almost anything. As long as you complete the difficult and deadly Hunters exam and get your license you can do whatever you want with it, so naturally there´s all kinds hunters, everything from hunters who hunt criminals, hunters who ARE criminals and hunters who tries to master the art of cooking, for example.

So in the first part of the series it´s about the exam and you follow Gon and his 3 companions as they try to survive the exam. What you´re going to notice is that the story involves very little fighting, and yet it´s really intense. In the third exam for example they have to fight against dangerous criminals, but instead of beating up all of them with super-lightning attacks they introduce different kinds of simple methods, like janken, and make it really interesting. This is executed very nicely and feels refreshing if you´ve watched other Shonen-series.

The show does not end after the exam though, it continues with the celestial tower arc and the yorkshin auction arc, and especially the latter is extremely entertaining.

Art
Yes, it is quite old and some people might not like it. Personally I didn´t mind though, both art and animation were smooth, and even if you don´t like older art you´ll probably find it acceptable.

Sound
The openings and endings were nothing special, but I personally loved the BGM! The songs really fit well in the athmosphere and I actually came back to some parts just because the music was so good and fit the whole show so perfectly. The voice acting was also really good, and I didn´t really notice anything to complain about. Voices fit characters really well (I watched the subs).

Character
Here is when the series really start to shine! The characters are great, and unlike too many other shonen shows they are actually both memorable and they don´t feel forced in any way, this without 12 episodes from their pasts. They also get developed a lot in the show and you find youself just enjoying to watch the characters together.

Enjoyment
Even if the first 7 or so episodes are a bit slow, once you get into this show it´s never boring. It´s not slow paced and there´s always something new and interesting happening in every episode (there might be some exceptions, but I can´t think of any just like that). It´s actually one of the most enjoyable series I have ever seen.

Overall
On of the best shows out there, watch it now! Even if you normally dont like shonen shows, this might still entertain you! It´s not slow paced, there´s more focus on plot than fighting and it actually ends (even if the ending is very open). I recommend this to everyone and especially if you like other shonen shows, then you will love this one, it is the best typical shonen adventure anime out there. read more

I was pretty sad when I finished the last OVA because now I can't watch more of this anime.

Hunter x Hunter is clearly one of the best anime series I have seen so far and it is very addictive once you get involved with the story line and the characters. It follows the main character Gon and his friends Leorio,Kurapika and Killua.

Story: The story is intriguing and exciting and it will leave you begging for more. The first arc was not so great in the beginning in my opinion, it could have been because the characters was not familiar and you had to get more involved. Then after a couple episodes it got more interesting and you wanted to see what happens next.

Art: The art was a bit poor in the beginning what I recall. The production started in 98 or something so maybe that have to do with the quality. I don't remember exactly, but sometime during the series the picture quality suddenly got better, but it never bothered me really. After the TV series, they changed the animation too, but not a big deal in my opinion. It''s not great, hence why no 10, but it did no matter to me.

Sound: The voice casts were great and the music was outstanding. I liked most of the music in both the TV series and the OVA:s. I can't remember anything that bothered me with the sound, but in the Greed Island arc, the character Hisoka's voice changed a bit. Otherwise not much more to say here.

Character: I think the character roles was of most importance in this series and everything revolved around the character development and their relations with each other. I liked the relation between Gon and Killua, and Hisoka's obsession with them. Hisoka in my opinion, is one of the most entertaining villains in the anime series I have watched and his erraticly behavior and personality made him special and a bit mysterious.

Enjoyment: With everything stated above, this show gives everything you'd want of an anime and I can say when I talk with friends about anime, Hunter x Hunter is often mentioned as one of the best anime series. Of course, this is my view of the anime and you have to get your own when you start watching. But I can assure that you will at least find one thing good about it and might make you interested.

Overall: I got much of my opinions above here but I'll try to finish this review. Hunter x Hunter is an great anime and if you have seen series like Naruto or One Piece it won't make you disappointed. Some similarities I found for example, was between Kurapika from Hunter x Hunter and Sasuke from Naruto. They have a couple similar characteristics and is after this group that reminds me of Akatsuki. Another thing I noticed between the main character Gon and Luffy, the main character from One Piece, is their way of seeing things, they are simple-minded and true to everyone.

Now I think Iam done writing here and most of you reading might already watched the anime since it's quite old by today. But if you haven't watched any of the OVA:s yet and liked the TV series I strongly suggest you to do that.

And to all who still haven't watched this show, I urge you to do so if you are interested. I wish everybody to live happily and continue to watch good quality anime. ^^ read more

First off, for the sake of simplicity I'm going to cover all four series (one TV series and three OVAs) in one review, since they actually form a single continuous story.

Generally I approach shounen titles with care, since many of them strike me as a bit shallow and vacuous. Hunter X Hunter, however, sounded quite interesting. On the strength of one solitary review, I gave it a watch.

I'll begin with a brief summary: Hunter X Hunter revolves around a ten-ish year old boy named Gon who discovers that his permanently absentee father, Ging, is, in fact, one of the most famous and respected Hunters in the world. Hunters hunt various things, from criminals to recipe ingredients, depending on their individual talents and preferences. It seems to Gon that the only way he is going to have access to the resources to find and finally meet his father is to become a Hunter himself - so he cheerfully sets off to take the Hunter Exam. The four Hunter X Hunter series document Gon's attempts to become a Hunter and find Ging, punctuated by various distractions that result from the myriad troubles of the friends he makes along the way.

After two or three episodes, it seemed pleasant enough but uninspiring. By episode seven or so, when the Hunter Exam starts in earnest, it begins to become more interesting. Before long, I was completely absorbed. Unlike many shounen series I've glimpsed, Hunter X Hunter doesn't rely too much on fighting (except for the Celestial Tower arc - the weakest of the lot, but necessary to everything that follows it) and actually has engaging characters who I ended up sincerely caring about. That's a rarity for me in any form of TV/film, but particularly in anime, and very particularly in shounen. In this case, I actually almost wept a single sorrowful tear when the final episode of the final OVA ended, so attached had I become to the central group of characters.

One of the great things about Gon as a 'hero' in a shounen title is he isn't the most powerful character, nor does he want to be. He wants to be good enough to qualify as a Hunter and find his father, but that's all - and he often fails to triumph in difficult situations, whether in combat or a battle of wits or a game. He is surrounded by stronger, faster, cleverer characters; in particular, the mysterious and repellent Hisoka is leagues ahead of anyone else in the series in sheer power and skill.

Again, though, combat is not as prominent as one might expect in Hunter X Hunter. It does occur, but it slots smoothly and naturally into the flow of events rather than feeling crowbarred in, as is so often the case in anime of this type.

One of the strongest points of the whole thing is the interaction between the core characters. It's hugely enjoyable simply watching them together, seeing their friendships develop, shift emphasis, come apart, and take on new dimensions. And every single one of the characters has more depth than I thought was possible in shounen.

Now to the negatives. They are few, but worth mentioning.

The first thing to mention is this series does take some time to get going. The first half a dozen episodes meander along quite sedately as though they're little more than a travelogue. After that, everything is fine up until the Second Test of the Hunter Exam, which really irritated me. I'm not going to say why, since I want to avoid spoilers, but quite how none of the characters stabbed anyone in a fit of rage is a mystery.

The first major low point, though, arrives during the second arc, when some of the characters undertake a stupidly DBZ-like weight-training regime. I nearly took my head in my hands in despair. Fortunately, it was over fairly quickly.

The most sustained of the poorer points of the series is the aforementioned Celestial Tower arc. Fighting tournaments do little for me unless I'm participating (I mean Mortal Kombat etc, not actual, real fighting. Good grief, what do you take me for?). The major developments of this arc are pivotal to later events, but it was still a bit of a chore to sit through the duels - except the all-too-brief outings for Killua, who is always entertaing to watch in confrontations.

One of the things that unsettled me about Hunter X Hunter as I went along was the change in tech. The first plot arc is all sailing ships, bows and occasional scraps of near-ruined modern technology (with the notable exception of a motorbike in Gon's photo of Ging), but each arc increases the tech level until, by the time we reach the York Shin arc, cars, automatic weapons and the internet are commonplace. This is somewhat jarring at first, but the more time is spent in York Shin, the less noticable it becomes.

One more thing I'd like to mention is the music. The reviews I've read of the several Hunter X Hunter series all claim that the music improves as the series progress. While I concede that some of the music in G.I. Final is good, I actually preferred the early music. In particular, I rapidly grew to pine for the melody I think of as 'Gon's Theme', which is rarely heard outside the first story arc.

I'll end my poorly-structured rambling there (listening to this month's Terrorizer cover CD isn't conducive to coherent writing) with a high recommendation. Hunter X Hunter is among my top three anime. Fans of harem anime or fan service may want to avoid; fans of good character, interesting plot and colourful action with the odd touch of the strange and sinister should watch at the next opportune moment. read more

One of my all time favourites, I've re-watched this anime 3 times and I'm not tired of it yet. The series include a balance of humour, plot, action and character, not to mention there were no filler episodes, unlike some other action-based shounen anime.Also, unlike some other action-bases series where the storyline is pretty much predictable, Hunter x Hunter isn't - in fact, it contained many twists that I wouldn't had expected (example: re-examination of the 2nd round exam in the Hunter Exam). The anime illustrated some important lessons in life, such as friendship, determination and teamwork, through scenarios that might actually happen in real life. The Opening theme is awesome, and so is the closing and the inserts. Definately a must watch. read more

Overall:

My very best anime and i haven't actually seen anything else to the same level. Hunter x Hunter is personally a masterpiece that the community has greatly forgotten and as much as i think that's unfortunate i am just glad that i had the chance to watch this anime. Basically i love it because of these two rounded factors: story-wise and unique characters.

Animation:

Not the best actually but the art did progress little by little in each episode. The beginning felt really old and looked something that lack much colors. It was after if i believe the first arc that the art was changed and if i were to grade that quality aside of the awful beginning i would say that it does deserve a 10.
Hunter x Hunter's world approached a lot realistically to our world if we were to put aside all the magical power stuff and that's one of the good trait that i like about this anime.
The character designs were as much as great too and quite unique. Their clothes were fashionable and not something i have seen yet in other anime.

Sound:

As much as everyone else seem to love the first opening song of this anime i do however find it horrible and that unfortunately brings it to this score. That aside i love the other opening and ending songs and they are as now as my main favorites. One specific character's voice i really like was Hisoka, he sounded kind a creepy perverted and fitted perfectly his character. The others too sounded great but i took more an account of hisoka because it was quite amazing.

Story:

Overall hunter x hunter has the best story and i find it much addictive than anything else i have watched so far. The story gets complicated in each episode and i love that unpredictiveness that they bring in every part.

Gon as the main character decides one day to go on a journey to find his dad which he is a hunter and the only way for Gon to achieve this course it's to become a hunter himself. Being an hunter ins't just an easy task and nothing as to say as prosperous ever really come off of this job. The story on this specific note round along 4 characters and they all have to become Hunters for their own goals. Kurapika who he is the last survivor of his tribe and now he is seeking revenge, Leorio who is attempting to become a doctor after the sad death of his friend, Killua who is a born assassin but now he wants to choose another path and Gon who basically wants to find his father. Needless to say as Good characters come evil always follow and they aren't as easy to read as any other villain that may be predicted in other anime. Their role ins't to say to be just the "antagonist" and they appear as much alive and important as any other character in the story.
Overall this is the basic view of how the story is developed into.

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The basic premise of the story is Gon, a young boy living on Whale Island, one day meets an apprentice of his father. This hunter tells him about his long lost father, Ging, and awakens in Gon the desire to become a hunter in order to find his father. Along the way to the Professional Hunter Exams, Gon meets and befriends Killua (from an assassin family), Kurapica (last survivor of a tribe murdered by the Ryodan) and Leorio (who wants to be a doctor).

At 62 episodes long, one might think what on earth could be so interesting about people who hunt things. Well, this is one of the best storylines ever! It starts slow, but as soon as they got into the hunter exam the pace picked up (literally) and the viewer becomes engrossed. There is also a good background philosophy on the fighting styles and abilities of Nen users.

I can't stress enough how good the plot twists are, the character development is perfect and the story is so well fleshed out that there is potential for a spin off with any of the main and half the side characters, Killua and Hisoka especially. Now that is depth! Hisoka himself is one of the best anime villians ever written. Bravo to the writer for creating this world and characters.

The art was nothing fantastic, it's very bright and cheerful which fits in with the main protagonist's age of 12. It serves its purpose but won't make you go "aaaah, this could be a picture". Action scenes are very well done.

Overall, I really enjoyed this whole series and it left me wanting more. By the end of the series I was mumbling to myself that 62 episodes just weren't enough even though Hunter x Hunter arc was "finished". Luckily there are 3 other OVAs after that to deal with the offshoot unanswered questions. read more

Hunters… What do you think about when you hear this? An Anime about people killing poor cute animals? Of course this is not it, all the animals are ugly! lol

Hunter X Hunter is one of the best shonen animes I have ever seen. For those who like to watch bleach will enjoy this anime. The only thing I have against it is that it has ended so soon T__T

The story has enough fighting scenes which are very cleverly thought out, and does not drag on for too long but leaves you completely satisfied with the result. No fillers which is totally great!

The animation is good; the original TV series are not as greater quality than the OVA because it is older.

You don't really notice the sounds as much which is good, that means it totally blends in with the scenes. The openings and endings songs aren't that great, I only like the first opening song Ohayo. The voices of the characters really make the anime alive. The voice actor of Gon did the voice actor of Naruto as well. I really like Hisoka's voice, the voice actor is very talented, it really suits the creepy character (he also did Harima Kenji from school rumble).

The characters are very well thought out which and they are very funny in their own ways. The background of the main characters are interesting. I would have liked to know more about Hisoka's background though, he is very mysterious...

Enjoyed it very much watched all episodes in 2 days; overall it is one of the best storylines out there.
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Hunter x Hunter is your typical Shounen, Action, Adventure anime with the usual plot-devices but with a pretty unique concept of “hunting”. This series may not adrenaline filled action sequences but it is still highly enjoyable, with plenty of tension.

HxH start of about skilled individuals trying to become professional hunters for their own individual reasons. The story follows a young boy (Gon Freaks) on his quest to become hunter, in order to find his hunter dad. The beginning is just about candidates undergoing treacherous tasks and challenges, whilst forming bonds during the long hunter exam. Some, including me, may be bored by the lackluster beginning but sometime into the hunter exam arc the series picks up and become very interesting and captivating to watch. The following arcs manage to up the level, bringing so much to the unique story but it’s a shame that it never finishes within the TV series.

The characters of HxH are the usual batch of protagonist and antagonist found in shounen anime and each of them manages to fit the bill. They all are interesting and unique in their own way. They develop so much throughout the show, even though most of the time it revolves around Gon. Gon himself is what you’d call a typical protagonist and even though his ideals are somewhat annoying, he can do astonishing things that will surprise anyone. Not to mention the other main characters: Killua, Kurapika and Leorio who all manage to bring something astounding to the show.

The first thing that may come to your mind with the animation, is how dated it looks however when you put that aside you can easily take the animation for its merits. The art style is great and there are plenty of fluid fights but they can be a little fast paced. The music is pretty good, as it can help build up the tension and can just as easily release the tension with some upbeat tunes. Nonetheless the music itself feels more dated than the animation.

Overall HxH is a very entertaining Shounen, Action, Adventure but with an intricate plot and concept, which develops as the story goes on. There’s plenty of stupid comedy to enjoy, plus a lot of major developments and intense combat. The series may not focus entirely on fighting but the methods of fighting actually evolves later on in the series, into something more diverse and complex (Nen). It’s a shame that the TV series doesn’t resolve anything and the OVAs don’t provide much resolution either. Other than that this is definitely a shounen anime series worth watching, if you're in this kind of thing.

^_^ read more

First, I will state watched this series at least 3 times. You may be thinking I'm quite biased, especially giving it a 10. But that's how I really feel since this Anime always manages to excite me yet give me a wide range of emotions. Mostly excite though ( I find it to be an adrenaline pumping Anime )

. Pros
+ Main characters are well developed and loveable
+ Villains also have depth and are very interesting too
+ Minor characters themselves are unique too
+ No fillers
+ Plenty of comedy to keep it balanced
+ Plenty of action , great battles
+ Never a dull moment
+ Outdated visuals ( it gives it a gritty feel and adds to the experience )
+ Mature theme
+ People actually die
+ Music fits perfectly
+ Good pacing

. Cons
- The main plot can be described in one sentence. Gon wants to finds his dad
- Outdated visuals
- No romance ( you're looking at the wrong place )

. In Detail :
I could go on and on about how great this Anime is but I'll try to keep it short. First, the story. Gon wants to find his father. That's it. While the plot is simple, his journey to finding his father is what makes this Anime so great. I mean, look at One Piece, Luffy just wants to obtain One Piece ( and Naruto wants to become Hokage ), but it's the adventure that counts. I would recommend at least watching 20 episodes ( 10 minimum ) before giving up on the series. While the visuals and quality is dated, I feel this is what gives the Anime an even grittier and mature feel. Unlike Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, not many people die and when sometimes they do they come back to life, here in HxH, they stay dead. This made a difference to me, since I could feel that the characters were in much greater danger and I could take the Anime more seriously. The best thing about the Anime is the characters. You get to know them, understand them, and watch them grow and mature throughout the series. None of the episodes seem to drag on and so you can't help but watch the next episode to find out what happens next. The fights and situations the main characters are put in definitely make this series worth watching. After the TV series the OVAs get pretty interesting to watch too. I highly recommend this Anime to anyone, especially to those who like Bleach, Naruto, or One Piece, this is a better alternative. read more

First you must remember that this a fairly old anime, and at first the art work and sound might seem lacking, but don't let that put you off. This is the anime that started it all... Flame of Recca, Naruto, Ninku and the rest, are in essence, imitations of HxH.

There's a riveting plot, a quest, if you will, that takes our group of protagonists all across the world in arbitrary adventures. Although it starts out a little slow, it is an interesting enough story to hold your attention, besides you're rooting too hard for the underdog protagonist to stop yourself from finding out if he succeeds in his quest. I mean come on, he fights with a fishing rod, how could that not be cool? Speaking of which, there are some excellent fight sequences and some mind benders even!

The art and sound are dated, but that hardly detracts from the enjoyment. There are some excellent characters, creative and unique in their own ways, devious villains, and the usual comic relief. The protagonist's naivity makes him awefully endearing and you're warped into his world view of "all things are good"... very reminiscent of Naruto, minus the repititive "I will protect my friends" dialogues.

I truly enjoyed this series and the subsequent sequels which were even better. Besides, this is a landmark series that no fan of anime should miss. I assure you, you will not be disappointed.

To those of you who have read my other reviews, I try not to get into a lenghty detailed philosophical understanding of the subplot in my reviews, all I have to say is I highly recommend this series and it's three OVA sequels.

I trust you will enjoy this as much as I have! read more